Ajith Kumar was born in Hyderabad, India. His father is a Palakkad Iyer while his mother is Sindhi^[1]. Ajith is the middle son of three children others being Anil Kumar and Anup Kumar, both being software engineers^{[citation needed]}. In his childhood he was brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Schooling days were numbered for Ajith as he dropped out of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School in 1986 to become a part-time two-four wheeler mechanic and a full-time garment exporter based in Erode till 1990. Business agencies pushed him into modelling for adverts in print media. He also took it on realising an income in the job, it eventually paved his way into Tollywood otherwise known as the Telugu film industry and later into Kollywood.

Early career

(Ajith) Thala started his film career at the age of 21 as an actor Telugu movie Prema Pustagam in 1992.^[2]. His next film was in Tamil entitled Amaravathi for which he was paid a token salary of Rs.390.^[3] His second Tamil film Pavithra^[4] was delayed for 17 months because of a racing injury that left him bed-ridden. Both films received appreciation from the Tamil audience.^[5] It was his third Tamil film that released 10 months later in 1995, Aasai, directed by Vasanthan and produced by Mani Rathnam which helped to establish his career as a teen icon in Kollywood.^[6]Ajith's first big budget venture Aasai but only after Agathiyan's Vaanmathi and particularly the National Award winning Kadhal Kottai established him as an accomplished actor in Kollywood. Ajith later played in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production^[7] in Ullasam. This venture paid him a salary of over Rs.1 million for the first time ever.

A string of successful movies followed, most notably Kadhal Mannan and Aval Varuvala and the multiple award winning Vaali which cast him alongside Simran. Vaali saw a new peak in Ajith's career. He played a dual role in the film as a deaf-and-dumb twin who lusts after his naive brother's wife.^[8][9]After Amarkalam^[10] with his fiancee Shalini, Ajith set up his own distribution company AK International with office located within the premises of NIC Arts which was run by his friend-producer-distributor S.S.Chakravarthi. This office was shifted in 2006.In 2000, Ajith was cast alongside Mammooty, Abbas, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai in Kandukondain Kandukondain. The film's audio rights were sold for a record Rs.22 million, which still stands.^[11] Mugavari followed as Ajith acted in alongside Jyothika.^[12]

 Family

In early 1999, he began dating his Amarkalam co-star Shalini. Ajith's involvement with Shalini also made him a regular subject of tabloid gossip then, a role to which he was unaccustomed. They got married in 2000 in Chennai where they invited many other Kollywood actors and actresses including Rajnikanth, Kamal Hasan, Vijay, Surya and R. Madhavan. As both were of different religions Ajith being a Hindu and Shalini being a Christian, together they were married in the customs of both religions. After their marriage in the year 2000, Shalini retired as an actress and became a full time housewife. However she did accompany Ajith at the sets of his films as moral support. On January 3rd, 2008, the couple were blessed with a baby girl.^[16]

 Relationships

Since the start of his career in Tollywood and Kollywood, Ajith was well known for being outspoken and genuine about his life and projects. He was also outspoken about his affair with a particular actress. In 1997 Ajith was romantically linked to fellow actress Heera.^[17] Both first met in sets and so acted three films together before becoming romantically linked. Ajith and Heera split up in 1999 due to unknown causes. That same year Ajith met his future wife Shalini on the sets of Amarkalam in 1999. They only waited one year before they got married.

 Car racing and other interests

Professional car racer

Ajith is a professional car racer who drove in circuits around India in places such as Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. He had also been abroad in his various races including Germany and Malaysia. He drove in the Formula 3 for the team Mango Racing. Ajith has taken part in many races but he was unsuccessful in all his attempts. So he had to discontinue his car racing career and he returned to acting in Kollywood.

 Awards

Ajith over the years in the has won multiple awards for his acting. He won the Best New Face Award from Bharatmuni Art Academy for his debut film Prema Pustagam in Telugu. After this award he won three more , a Filmfare Award, a Cinema Express Award and a Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Vaali in 1999. He then won another Cinema Express - Best Artist Award for the film Mugavari in 2000.

In 2001 he won the Special Actor - State Award for the film Poovellam Un Vasam. He then won another Filmfare Award and another Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Villain in 2002. Ajith Kumar has also won the Filmfare Best Actor Award South on two occasions and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (Tamil) for the Movie Kandukondain Kandukondain. On one occasion J.Jayalalitha presented him with a State Award. In 2007 he won his 4th Filmfare Best Actor Award South for the film Varalaru.